Children, by nature, are curious and in search of learning experiences. The discovery of new objects can thus be highly dangerous, if these children are not under the supervision of an adult. Indeed, the discovery of new objects, in particular by young infants, leads to grasping, but also to sucking or biting.
Thus, products or packaging items which are intended to contain active or toxic substances and which in particular require the reference “child resistant”, in other words safety products or packaging items for children, must not be easily openable by children below the age of 5 years. However, the difficulty for children in opening such packaging items must not cause the system to be too complex, nor said opening to be achieved at the expense of the convenience of its use for the user, in particular by elderly persons.
Currently existing safety packaging items for children, designed for the homogeneous delivery of a liquid or pasty substance, are often neither practical to use, nor adapted to the product or the packaged contents.
Different technical solutions have already been implemented. Known examples include child-proof container stopper devices, including a neck having on its external surface two axially offset threads and a stopper having on its internal surface two axially offset threads which respectively match the threads on the external surface of the container, with the separation between the stopper threads being smaller than the separation between the neck threads, thus making it necessary to combine several movements in order to open the container. The areas included in between the respective threads of the neck and the stopper are furthermore provided with ring-shaped grooves which make it necessary to pull strongly on the stopper in order to open the container. Other solutions, in particular as shown in utility model DE202004003781U in the name of Klocke Verpackungs-Service GmbH, involve making the packaging safe for children, in particular by means of isolation in an additional overwrap. Thus, it is this over-wrapped packaging which is referred to as being “child resistant”.
Nevertheless, these solutions are not always entirely satisfactory. Indeed, such stoppers or over-wrapped packaging items are not environmentally or economically attractive. Furthermore, their manipulation, and in particular the difficulty in opening the overwrap, make their use sometimes difficult and unpractical.
In the field of veterinary pharmacy, with topical product delivery systems for the fur of animals, for example dogs and cats, the packaging can also have other drawbacks, in particular for the user and/or the subject to be fed or treated. Thus, once they have been opened, existing packaging items, such as for example the packaging for the FRONTLINE™ Spot on Chien (Fipronil 10% plv) product marketed by the Merial™ company, or the packaging items described in WO2004/030821, once having been opened, allow uncontrolled outpouring of their contents, if the user does not take care or drops the packaging.
Indeed, the presence of a pharmaceutical product dispensing system with a thermoformed nozzle makes it possible for the substance to flow by mere gravity, once the packaging has been opened. This causes the manipulation of the above-mentioned products to increase the risk of accidental contamination of the user, the subject to be treated, or the environment. Moreover, it can happen that some of the product present in the nozzle escapes without control when it is opened. This can lead to significant compliance problems (i.e. in respecting the prescribed dosage) when pharmaceutical or veterinary products are concerned, since the user no longer knows exactly what dose he will deliver. In addition, thermoformed nozzles are rigid and can have undesirable cracks, depending on their length and the nature of the materials from which they are made. It can thus happen that they break upstream the breakage line, increasing the risk of a loss of product and contamination of the user's fingers.